California: Water Controls Ordered for San Francisco

By The Associated Press

June 26, 2015

California state regulators on Friday told San Francisco to stop taking some of the river water it routinely stores in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. The State Water Resources Control Board ordered the cutback under its latest round of notices that waterways are too dry to meet demand in the drought. Other cutbacks have involved water districts and corporations generally spared from water cuts because of their strong rights to water. San Francisco has numerous century-old rights to the Tuolumne River, including one established when the mayor famously nailed a notice on a tree in 1902. Water is diverted from the river to fill the Hetch Hetchy reservoir that serves 2.5 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Communities can keep drawing water from the reservoir that is nearly full. It is not clear how much water San Francisco takes from the Tuolumne River under the four rights suspended by regulators. Under California’s water rights system, the first to stake claims to water as early as Gold Rush days are among the last to face cuts. The board has the power to levy $1,000-a-day fines for illegal diversions of water. Officials at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said they had not reviewed the state’s order and did not have an immediate comment.

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